So recently I joined the new game network as a freelance reviewer and my first review for the site was published. Here is also a link to my portfolio site.

Purchases of the month

Penumbra Overture, Steam-$2.50
Check the review for impressions.

The World Ends With You, DS-$10

+ Enjoyable combat.
+I feel the need to progress though the some what whacky and weird game.
- Extremely Weird story, weird characters which is a huge turnoff.
- Do not get the Japanese references at all.

Daxter, PSP- $5

Haven't played enough of it yet but it seems like a good looking straight forward platformer.

Peggle, Itouch- $.99

Love this game to death and for the price of a hamburger im glad I took advantage of the sale.

Light Wars, Itouch- $.99

A Geometry wars clone that doesn't always control that well but is still loads of fun to play and at $.99 it was steal.

Might & Magic V, Steam- $5

+ Same great ****of play
+Graphical tune up is a nice addition.
-Not much has changed in the series.
-Some moments of slowdown.

Seven Kingdoms, Good Old Games (gog.com) - $6
A impulse buy as it's a game I played a lot during my childhood but it really hasn't aged that well.

Keep on gaming.

So E3 has came and gone and man what a show, im not going to ramble on about it but I truly enjoyed the new Splinter Cell Convictions and Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2 footage and gameplay. Now here are some games I've been playing.

Prey $4: Retail via gogamer.com
+Unique character development.
+Environments are nicely detailed.
-Game looks like its cousins Quake 4 and Doom3/
-Gets boring after a few hours.

Stalker Clear Sky: $10: Retail

+Great atmosphere .
+The zone looks great.
-Still buggy as ever.
-One of the hardest games to date.

Duke Nukem 3D: $6: Digital Download

+Duke Nukem, nough said.
+Fun and whacky enemies.
-Dated graphics.
-Controls take a while to configure in the DOS box.

X-Com UFO Deffense $2.50: Digital Download

+Great mix of strategy, base management and exploration type game play.
+Lots of customization.
-Pacing is dreadfully slow.
-Steep learning curve.

Penumbra: Overture $2.50 Digital Download

+Builds up tension and unsettling to play.
+Sound and lighting effects are some of the best.
-Combat is weak and I mean weak.
-Easy to dye and difficult puzzles.

   So I finally opened up my copy of Mirrors Edge that’s been in the shrink wrap sense Christmas you know why, School! Sense becoming Features editor for my school paper and taking on AP English I’ve had essays and stories to write constantly not leaving much time to play games. I’ve also been trying to fix my computer that reboots constantly (instead of getting the blue screen of “death”, which is what XP is set to defaultly).

   I had an idea of what to except form Mirrors Edge from playing the demo over and over, and I must say this is a great title. I’m not really into the cut scenes being animated yet I suppose they are refreshing from the constant asylum white hallways to the grey buildings and the story isn’t that great so far yet the game play is A+. That is when your run (duh) and doing the whole parkour thing. I find when encountering enemies the game really gets bogged down with the repetitive combat and boring gun fights. I never use guns because there hard they take the whole flow of the game away and that what makes this game so spectacular the flow. Running, jumping over barriers and sliding under pipes is so fluent and when jumping from building to building has you on the edge of your seat which implemented with solid good gameplay to great gameplay.

   Company of heroes is hands down my favorite game so far this year (yes ten days in this year, so what).  While it dose have a steep learning curve the sense of accomplishment is amazing. For those of you who don’t know CoH is a RTS for Pc and you take on the role of either American, Germans/Panzer Elites or British. The most drastic change from most RTS games (opt out War Hammer 40k games, relic made them) is that you capture resource points so you wont be building harvesters or supply depose, yet this is a double sided sword. While it changes p the gameplay you must also defend these points meaning there is a lot of running back and forth between attacking, defending base/control points and capturing enemy points.

  I’m currently enjoying the single player allot ore than the multiplayer due to the overall flow. Missions start with upgrades and a small amount of troops, when in multiplayer you start with no up upgrades and next to no defenses. While I do understand its standard convention for RTS games online to start from scratch I feel that only the hardcore do well in multiplayer.

I forgot to add a happy newyear blog so...Happy New year!